The Agitator In Chief

As I got home from work Thursday night, I checked in on Twitter, like I usually do, to see what is happening. I managed to get online as the horrific news was streaming out of Dallas, TX.  Five Dallas officers killed and seven more wounded. My mind first raced to all of the police officers and their families and praying for them in this tragic and appalling massacre. Then, my mind went to President Obama. I thought of General Eisenhower and his quote that optimism and pessimism are infectious. I thought words have meaning. For several years now, President Obama has stirred the pot on racial tensions and created a racially charged atmosphere that is conducive to this kind of incident. The podium of the President of the United States carries a lot of weight. The president sets the tone of the nation. Thursday night was tragic and appalling, and my argument is that a great deal of the blame lies at the feet of Mr. Obama. Let me elaborate on this argument a bit more.

In July of 2009, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates was arrested by the Cambridge, MA police. He was a friend of President Obama and this led to the following comments as cited by CNN on July 23, 2009:

"I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played," Obama said Wednesday night while taking questions after a White House news conference.

Cambridge authorities dropped disorderly conduct charges against Henry Louis Gates Jr. on Tuesday.

Obama defended Gates on Wednesday night, while admitting that he may be "a little biased," because Gates is a friend.

"But I think it's fair to say, No. 1, any of us would be pretty angry; No. 2, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home; and, No. 3 ... that there's a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately."

Clearly, these particular comments from a sitting president are, at the very least, not very wise and, whether consciously or subconsciously, carry a tinge of racial overtones. Interjecting himself into a local police matter, as president, carries a great deal of weight, and his words have meaning and gravitas. That is a dangerous way to add lighter fluid and fan the flames of racial tensions.

Fast forward to 2012, and the Trayvon Martin story. As most are aware, George Zimmerman was a neighborhood watch volunteer who ended up shooting the 17 year old and killing him. Martin was unarmed, but as more details emerged, it was clear that the teenager attacked Zimmerman and had cracked his head into the ground. Mr. Zimmerman feared for his life and reached for his gun. The jury found Zimmerman not guilty and this led to more inflation of racial tensions. President Obama commented, "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon." Seemingly innocuous, but again, he interjected himself into a local police issue and did just enough to put a bit more fuel on the fire.

Ferguson, MO was really the most amazing and interesting example of how the president managed to fan racial tensions. Officer Darren Wilson ended up killing Michael Brown in August of 2014. The media and the race baiters all portrayed the story as a racist white police officer killing an unarmed 18 year old black man. As the evidence revealed, officer Wilson was in the right and cleared of any wrongful actions. Brown was 300 pounds and got into the police cruiser and tried to take the gun of officer Wilson. Browns DNA was found inside the police vehicle and witnesses saw Brown walk away as Wilson shouted at him to stop. He refused to follow the commands and came at the officer again. Wilson shot him at least seven or eight times until he fell to the ground. The DOJ, led by then Attorney General Eric Holder, opened up their own intense investigation. They also could find no evidence of any wrongdoing by Wilson. That led to Attorney General Eric Holder producing another DOJ report that found the Ferguson, MO police department was wildly and institutionally racist. Here is what President Obama said:

In December, Obama stated in response to protests over supposed police racism that such racism was “deeply rooted in our society, it’s deeply rooted in our history” and that there was “deep unfairness” in law enforcement. He added:

As I said last week in the wake of the grand jury decision, I think Ferguson laid bare a problem that is not unique to St. Louis or that area, and is not unique to our time, and that is a simmering distrust that exists between too many police departments and too many communities of color. The sense that in a country where one of our basic principles, perhaps the most important principle, is equality under the law, that too many individuals, particularly young people of color, do not feel as if they are being treated fairly.

Yet again, President Obama interjected himself into a story and made comments that, at the very least, put more of a strain on the relationship between police and the black community.

The truth is, there has been a consistent theme of distrust of police departments and a tacit faux approval of such organizations as Black Lives Matter, by President Obama and his administration. Words do have meaning, and the words that a president chooses, carry immense weight, especially those of the first black president. It is hard to fathom that this is just an unconscious message from Mr. Obama. I think it is quite logical and clear, this is a conscious effort to drive a deeper wedge between law enforcement and the black community. It is not only shameful, it is flat out irresponsible and dangerous. What people like President Obama, Eric Holder, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Loretta Lynch, and the rest of their ilk fail to acknowledge, is that they would be far more effective in leading the black community in addressing the core issues of fatherless homes and the disintegration of the black family, than stoking the flames of racial tensions. President Obama and the Democrat Party have lost the core message of Martin Luther King Jr. As long as they continue to focus on the color of the skin instead of the content of character, they continue to keep a wedge in race issues and continue to foster a racially charged atmosphere that will lead to more instability and instances like we witnessed Thursday night in Dallas.